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Earth
Earth (or Sol III, or Terra or Tellus) is the inhabited third planet of the Sol system. Earth is the homeworld of the Humans and the Voth, among others, and is the capital planet of the United Federation of Planets. In 1921, with the last nation-states joining, the planet was unified under the United Earth government. It was a founding member of the Coalition of Planets in 1995, and of the United Federation of Planets in 1961. The President's office, the Federation Council, as well as Starfleet Headquarters and the main branch of Starfleet Academy were located on Earth. During the Dominion War, Earth's strategic importance was on par with worlds like Andor, Berengaria VII, and Vulcan. Planetary Data Earth is a spheroid-shaped terrestrial planet with a circumference of 24,874 miles (40,075 kilometers), a mass of 5.98×1024 kilograms and a mean density of 5.517. Its atmosphere has an average temperature of 75 °F (24 °C) and consisted of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and smaller percentages of krypton, neon, and argon. The Earth system consisted of a large natural satellite named Luna. Location Earth's orbit around its sun, Sol, measures more than two hundred million kilometers in diameter. Earth is located in the Alpha Quadrant, less than ninety light years from the boundary to the Beta Quadrant. It is a little over sixteen light years away from the planet Vulcan, less than ninety light years away from the Klingon homeworld, and approximately ninety light years away from Risa. In the late 19th century, the orbit of Earth was depicted on a German map of the inner system. (Star Trek: Enterprise, opening credits) In 2004, the orbit of Earth was depicted on a map of the inner system, which was stored in the USS Enterprise library computer. This was one of multiple records that were scanned by the Talosians in 2005. In 2016, the orbit of Earth was depicted on Chart 14A: The Sol System, which was stored in the Enterprise library computer. This chart was scanned by the probe Nomad in Auxiliary Control. History Around 4.5 billion years ago, ancient humanoids seeded many worlds in the Milky Way galaxy, including Earth, with a DNA code to guide evolution to a form resembling their own. Approximately 3.5 billion years ago, the first life on Earth was formed from a group of amino acids that combined to form the first proteins. Nonetheless, according to Lennon MacEachern-Smith, three hundred million years ago life had not yet emerged on Earth. Over four hundred million years ago, in the Devonian period, the genus Eryops was the last common ancestor of both warm-blooded and cold-blooded lifeforms. Approximately sixty-five million years ago, at the end of the Cretaceous period, a comet collided with the planet Earth. This mass extinction event resulted in the death of many reptilian lifeforms. One of the surviving lifeforms belonged to the genus Hadrosaur, which evolved into the Voth. The Voth eventually left Earth, leaving no apparent trace of their civilization, and colonized a world in the Delta Quadrant. Around the same time, mammals rose to prominence on the land and in the sea, eventually leading species like Humans and Humpback whales, respectively. Humans and their immediate ancestors shared the basic humanoid appearance, which may be the result of genetic seeding that occurred long ago, by the first sentient species to inhabit the galaxy. Earth was the birthplace of several major religions, such as Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, and Islam. Some of these religions, in one form or the other, survived into the 20th and 21st centuries. In the 17th century, scientist Galileo Galilei taught the masses that Earth moved around the sun and not the opposite way. For these teachings, he was tried and convicted of heresy by an inquisition of the Roman Catholic Church, and his books were burned. Earth was also visited, observed, and occasionally manipulated during its history, prior to official First Contact by Vulcans. One of the earliest extraterrestrial visits was by a race known as the Sky Spirits, originally native to the Delta Quadrant. These visits also included those by an ancient humanoid species, the Preservers, descendants of Humans abducted around 4000 BC, and Vulcans themselves, although this was disputed, as there was no proof or evidence offered by the Vulcan High Command. The Humpback whales were being observed by an unknown entity who, upon loss of contact with the species, sent a probe to investigate the absence of whale song. In the 19th century, a race called the Skagarans abducted several thousand Humans from the American west and then used them as slave labor. The El-Aurian Guinan also stayed discreetly on Earth. In the 1930s, the Briori visited Earth and abducted several individuals, including famous pilot Amelia Earhart. In the 1950s, a team of Vulcan explorers were temporarily stranded on Earth. From the mid-20th century onward, manned and unmanned spacecraft were launched from either the surface or the orbit of Earth. Several prominent craft that were launched from Earth include Apollo 11, Nomad, Phoenix, Friendship 1, Enterprise, and the USS Enterprise. Starting in the late 20th century and continuing on into the 21st, there were major construction projects on the surface and in orbit of Earth that supported the burgeoning expansion of Humans into space. Some of these projects were the Warp Five Complex, the San Francisco Fleet Yards, Spacedock, and Earth Station McKinley. In 1953, with the successful flight of the Phoenix, Earth became warp-capable. Climate and Geography From at least the dawn of Humans, Earth has been a class M world by planetary classification standards. Earth has several major landmasses and a wide variety of climatic and surface conditions, ranging from ice caps to desert. Inhabitance Earth is inhabited by humans, a subset species of the Preservers, known to be the first intelligent species existent in the galaxy. Humans are characterized by being bi-pedal, having the ability to use language to communicate, and emotional, illogical brains differing greatly. Culture The cultural significance and diversity on Earth is among the most diverse in the galaxy. Earth has a range of many countries (United States, Russia, China) which are considered among the most powerful state-countries in the galaxy and little-or-barely developed countries, which are the most barren and poor in the galaxy. Language English is the de facto global language. Although there is no official language at the global level, some laws—such as U.E. naturalization requirements—standardize English. In 2010, about 230 million, or 80% of the population aged five years and older, spoke only English at home. However, on a global scale, English is not the most commonly spoken language on Earth, it isn’t third behind Mandarind Chinese and Spanish.